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Medina sets temporary routes for construction trucks working on U.S. 42 widening project

Posted on June 13, 2017 at 4:08 PM

Construction trucks traveling to and from the U.S. 42 reconstruction project on North Court Street in Medina will have a few more options, thanks to a new ordinance that allows the city's safety director -- Mayor Dennis Hanwell -- to designate temporary truck routes on streets that are not normally open to construction vehicles.

Construction trucks traveling to and from the U.S. 42 reconstruction project on North Court Street in Medina will have a few more options, thanks to a new ordinance that allows the city's safety director -- Mayor Dennis Hanwell -- to designate temporary truck routes on streets that are not normally open to construction vehicles.(Ann Norman, special to cleveland.com)

City Council's Finance Committee has approved an ordinance allowing the safety director - Mayor Dennis Hanwell - to temporarily allow the trucks to travel on a handful of city streets that are normally closed to such traffic.

City Engineer Patrick Patton said the expanded truck routes will only last through this year's construction season and will only apply to trucks being used for the state's U.S. 42 reconstruction project.

The city prohibits truck haulers from driving on most city streets, with the exception of state and federal routes such as U.S. 42, Ohio 3, Ohio 57 and Ohio 18.

This is normally not a problem, but with the ongoing road construction projects on North Court Street and West Smith Road, construction trucks have had a hard time getting in and out of the city, city Law Director Gregory Huber said.

"Mr. Patton has all the roads in the city torn up," he told Finance Committee members at their meeting last night, eliciting an appreciative laugh.

Huber said the city's current truck route ordinance doesn't allow for flexibility in creating a new route. So he devised a new ordinance to allow for the designation of temporary routes.

"This gives the mayor some flexibility in solving this problem," Huber said.

Affected streets include:

* West Reagan Parkway between State Road and North Court Street

* North Huntington Street between Hillview Way and West Reagan Parkway

* Hillview Way between North Huntington Street and North Court Street

* State Road between West Reagan Parkway and West Liberty Street

* Progress Parkway.

Patton said allowing these routes will help prevent the trucks from traveling down North Court Street to the square to turn around and head back to the construction site.

"Sometimes when you're doing construction, there are no other options," he said.

The routes come with restrictions: All of the trucks are required to be within state and city legal limits for weight and size, and the streets can only be used when work on the project is being completed adjacent to or in close proximity to the streets, Patton said.

Truck traffic will be limited to between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. No truck traffic will be permitted on Sundays or on legal holidays.

Patton said all five streets are capable of withstanding legal loads.

"We wanted streets that could handle that, and also minimal residential areas," he said.

"The routes are only temporary and it's only during the day. It allows them to get the work done faster," he said.

The temporary routes will be revoked at the end of this construction season, sometime in October, which is when the first phase of the U.S. 42 project is expected to be finished.

"So this will only be in place for another couple of months," Patton said.

The situation will be revisited when next year's construction season begins next spring.

Patton said the first phase - North Court Street from the Medina Township line to Reagan Parkway - is going well.

"They seem to be a little bit ahead of schedule," he said.

Crews plan to start laying asphalt tomorrow, and the southbound side of the roadway should be completed by mid-July, he said.

Once that's done, workers will switch to the northbound lanes between Reagan Parkway and the Medina Township line.

Next year, the state will return to reconstruct North Court Street on both sides from Reagan Parkway south toward the square.

Patton reminded people to be patient with the construction and aware of lane changes and turning restrictions.

"There's no room to maintain left turn lanes from Reagan onto Court" in either direction, he said.